Professional Documents
Culture Documents
PROFORMA
FOR THE
PAINTING TRADE
3d. Profit
This belongs to me !! 19
3e. Summary
Lets put them altogether 19
Preparation of Surfaces
5. The key to a successful contract 23
Productivity Factors
6. General production rates for various surfaces 24
Conclusion
7. Summary of key points 24
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1. PAINTERS ARE MILLIONAIRES AREN'T THEY?
In 1909 Arthur Seymour Jennings published "The Modern Painter &
Decorator" which ran to 3 volumes and microscopically dissected and
commented on the trade and its operation.
The work has enjoyed great popularity with serious bibliophiles for its
incredible detail and authoritative style. Early editions command a great
deal of money.
"Having thus gone through the whole of the specified work, a price can
be found for the prime cost. This, of course, is the amount of money the
job will cost the contractor and is quite separate from profits,
establishment and overhead charges."
I have difficulties seeking an explanation but I can set down some of the
problems and in some cases, the solution provided action is taken.
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After thinking carefully about everything, I comment that my life and
times painting have been rewarding in the extreme, on every level, and
the potential for the young ambitious tradesman to exceed every wish in
life is there for those who use their skills with common-sense and
decency.
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Although painters can easily follow the build-ups necessary to produce
an hourly rate, very few can follow the assemblage of the elements of
materials and labour that are the factors of a prime cost sum.
The result is a Dollar and Cents value per square metre and is a Prime
Cost only.
It is the cost of the work, I know the language of painting perfectly, and
many many work packages are awarded for the cost of materials and
labour.
If this is more than your charge out rate pick up the phone and order the
new car or whatever.
If not you are not using (b) (c) (d) of your costings properly.
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See the analysis of Prime Costs if you could find a way of increasing
productivity slightly the effect is huge.
If you understand what your costs are the amount of profit (money) you
can make is your business.
Make up a list of all the elements and things that make up a job.
You know, on the job I often see the Boss driving the airless spray.
The mechanics and the work patterns are, after all, quite different from
trade painting.
The mechanical responsibilities are small and the satisfaction levels with
minimum training are huge.
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self-esteem amongst painters and attention is given to innovative
advertising, getting an edge etc.
(a) Painters/Customers
(b) Painters/Painters
Good job descriptions, clear quoting advice and positive actions are
necessary.
Lots of painters get grumpy. I say get happy and licence everything.
The harder we can make it to be a qualified painter the better are our
opportunities.
I have been baffled by Painters who work with colour, but deny any
authority for its use.
Interior designers charge a bit (lot) more than painters for colour choices
- you know - $100's per hour.
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There's so many problems, charges, the opportunities are limitless.
So What's Wrong?
The problems painters' face are not new, and my research suggests that
"the problems" may be part and parcel of our trade. That they seem to
be worse may be that although its bad now, we seem to be able to only
remember the sunny summers, not the rainy days, and the problems we
perceive could easily be a contingency of our trade.
This is fairly important because the painting industry runs on quotes for
work that will be undertaken and completed in the future. On large
projects you may be quoting 2 or more years before actually starting on
site.
Method of Measurement
The measurement of surfaces and their description has been formalised
into a standard method of measurement carefully described by the New
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Zealand Standard NZS4202. This was last updated in 1995 and is under
continual review.
There can be and are other (shortened) and condensed versions and
most people have their own system of measuring out and collating
elements of work. In fact, schedules of quantities are essential to
properly measure any area of work.
The general practise is that surface areas under 300mm wide are
measured as metres run (linear) and over this width, the measure is
length x height or square metres.
Examples are:
1. Corrugated iron has 10.5% more surface area than flat measure.
2. Trough sections roofing has 50% more surface area than flat
measure.
Item 2. And so on
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3. THE FOUR COST CENTRES
To be able to properly build up suitable rates for inclusion in a schedule
of quantities or such like we must first consider what costs we must
allow for.
Firstly we would have the actual cost of materials and labour to carry out
the described process. These are the costs associated with material
purchase and labour costs and are known as PRIME COSTS.
It does not give the degree of difficulty i.e. that it is 18 metres high, nor
does it include all the other costs needed to run your business.
(b) Establishment costs of the job Specific job problems and risks ?
Therefore to properly allow for the work package each element has to
be addressed:
1. PRIME COST
2. OVERHEAD COST
3. ESTABLISHMENT
4. PROFIT
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MK2 BULLSEYE
The spreading rate can be calculated by using the volume solids content
of the material against the optimum thickness required for the best
results.
Because the volume solids are the actual content of the dry paint film
the higher the volume solid content the further it would spread either in
thickness or area is true.
A practical man would measure his efforts actually painting and form
his own conclusions as to the area covered per litre.
Fortunately many people have already done so and for the Prime Cost
the material can be calculated using a Spreading Rate @ 90% of the
recommended area per litre. (Remember for peculiarities of measure
such as corrugated iron, stucco, this is the mathematics of our measure
and the differences added as necessary.)
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The Cost of Material per litre = Cost per m2
by Area Covered per Coat
AND
If Low Sheen costs $7.00 per litre
at 2 coats each covering 12m2 per litre it costs 58cents x 2 = $1.16m2
AND
The total cost of material for Sealer and 2 Coats = $1.93
This is not a great deal, and the total cost of materials is much the
smallest part of a painters revenue from painting. Quite often the cost of
materials are less than the fixed overheads.
The Prime Cost for the application of the material (Labour) can also be
calculated by finding out from timing the process and multiplying this by
the amount paid in wages.
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We now have to establish the true cost of Labour per hour and this is
multiplied by the factor.
CALCULATION SHEET
EXAMPLE A
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EXAMPLE B
The employer is liable for 80% of wages for the first week of
employment related to accidents.
EXAMPLE C
Therefore using the factors we have calculated, the rate for material and
labour can now be worked up.
And therefore if the painting of doors and frames, for example average
differences in material and production, a cost factor can be established
to provide a Metre costing.
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FIXED ON LUMP SUM LABOUR UNITS
Whilst this fixes the cost of the component of labour, either hourly or
project specific, this is still a PRIME COST and to this must be added
your OVERHEAD factor, the ESTABLISHMENT costs and of course
your PROFIT .
The advantages are in part knowing the actual labour costs and
diminished responsibility for some of the labour needs.
INFLATION
Most contracts these days are let on a fixed price basis, to reduce client
risk, with no potential for contractors to recover costs if the price of
labour and materials goes up during the contract. The recovery of these
potential inflationary costs should be built into your tender quote.
On small jobs the question of allowing for inflation or price rises is not
really an issue, due to the small time frames involved, but large jobs will
require a bit of thought and understanding to ensure adequate cost
recovery.
How far in the future is based on the size of the project, and because
painting is a finishing trade you can expect to be doing your work
towards the end.
Because of this we should make some allowance for inflation within our
quotes at tender. There are a number of cost forecast indices available
and can be obtained from your own bank, The Reserve Bank or the
Dept of Statistics.
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Inflation over the last ten years has been approximately 1% per year
and is forecast to fluctuate between 1.5 2.0% per year through to
2005.
Remember, you will price a job at rates you are using today, but you
should allow for inflation, on top of your Prime Costs, or it will become a
cost you cannot recover when you finish the job in the future.
Using Material and Labour build-ups from pages 13 & 14 of this guide.
On a large job of 10,000m2 of 3 coat work over two years the potential
inflation of your Prime Costs, based on 1.5% movement per year, would
be as follows:
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3b. OVERHEAD COSTS Business Expenses
Businesses cost money to run and include such things as advertising,
vehicle, telephone, interest, stationary and possibly office wages etc.
These are the non-revenue costs or EXPENSES you generate.
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The overhead cost is then divided by the Productive hours used during
the same time.
Owner 2370
Painter 2420 (Charge Hand)
Painter 1 2170
Painter 2 2080
Painter 3 2080
Painter 4 2170
13,290 Hours
(c) Accommodation.
Although the Prime Costs do not change, the costs can and do. It is
your job to consider all possible contingencies and decide the cost of
the risk.
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Establishment and risk are specific costs and should be totalled and
added to the bottom of a schedule as separate lump sums.
We know (provided our inputs are accurate) our costs are covered and
therefore profit is simply the amount of money we wish to earn. The
reason for not building it into our rates is that the application of profit
margin can be used competitively and is the only area of our total
price that contains any more than you are earning. The amount can
be 0-100% or more, just as you determine.
Obviously if too great you hardly win tenders, and equally, if you do a lot
of work, your profit margin can be slim.
i.e. 5% of NZ $2 Million
is $100,000.00
15%
is $300,000.00
AND 25% is Half a Million Dollars
Ideally, unless you decide to subsidise the work with your own money,
the profit component is the proper mechanism to adjust your prices to
meet market conditions.
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2. OVERHEAD 20% + 174.68
3. ESTABLISHMENT
(This was 2.400 stud next door) + 000.00
(OUR M2 RATE IS $10.57) $1057.68
4. PLUS PROFIT (Your Call)
While this is very pretty to watch, every once in a while this system
provides severe penalties and therefore is not for timid or poor
practitioners.
The conclusion must be that there is a place for both systems, and the
experienced painting contractors almost universally develops skill with
both systems, usually putting a little of each against every proposal.
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(b) Cost of Labour
You need a good scale at least 1:100, 1:10, 1:5 and there are many
good composite scales.
You also need a good quality adding machine with a quality printer to
quickly run up your quantities.
Method
1. Check scale of drawings and also verify with your scale that the
information is not copied out of scale.
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Areas are always Length x Height and are
SQUARE METRES
0-150 } Standard
150-300 } Lineal Metres
Often you find that buildings have a common ceiling height, therefore
you can have a running wall measure, aggregating the total length x
height singly.
AND then deduct the door + window measurements from this total, but
include for their paint finishes as necessary.
Overheads
Establishment
AND
Profit
MASKING COSTS
The usual labour equation to both apply and remove tape/marking etc
consumes 1/3 of the productivity as:
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9 hour day products 440 flat metres per coat less 1/3.
The rates require some sound assessment of each task, both in labour
and material requirements, and then the judgement can be easily
worked up into the proposal. The essence of all this is that lump sum
fixed price quotations include for everything you know and allow for
everything you don't know and should include for.
Therefore the better your system the fewer mistakes. You then may not
win every job, but those you do will be worthwhile because everything is
properly allowed for.
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PRODUCTIVITY FACTORS - OUTPUT PER 9 HOUR DAY
ALLOW CAPITAL / COST 440m2 per c per day (AS @ 3000 PSI)
MASKING ETC.
WINDOW FRAMES 60m2 per day per coat (b) (Flat measure over gloss)
B A/S
2
Weatherboards (Flat Measure) (a) Bevel back 65m 230m2
(b) Rusticated 60m2 260m2
(c) Vertical 60m2 200m2
R A/S
* Rough Cast (Flat Measure) (a) Smooth 100m2 400m2
(b) Medium 70m2 250m2
(c) Pebbledash 30m2 150m2
7. CONCLUSION
Hopefully the aforementioned method statements are easy to follow and
understand. We believe they will help you to establish, as accurately as
possible, the actual costs and outcome of any proposed painting
project and in turn enable you to successfully undertake and complete
your work.
The methods stated will only provide you with a framework to work
within but will not do the work for you.
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valuable historical data to analyse jobs upon completion and provide a
ready source of information for your next quotation.
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